It only made her memory stronger.

09Aug
One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with My Lord many scenes of my life flashed across the sky. In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints. Other times there was one set.bSo I said to the Lord, "You promised me lord that if I followed you, you would always walk with me . . . but I have noticed, during the most trying times in my life there have been only one set of footprints in the sand. Why when I needed you most, you have not been there for me?" The Lord replied: “The times when you saw only one set of footprints…I carried you.”  
- Mary Stevenson

Annie Jung recently gave a sermon where she noted that Storytelling was a great source of material for sermons. We all respond to a personal story that has a soul lifting ending. It’s sure to get the audience’s attention. This reminded me of the sermons of William Barnwell, which often included personal stories.

One particular Barnwell story, told many years ago, has stuck in my memory. He recounted a tale told to him by his grandfather. Grandpa had grown up in Charleston S.C. in a house on a bluff, overlooking the waters of the Atlantic. As children, he and his brothers and sister would explore the sandy trails overlooking the water. He and his brothers were very protective of their younger sister Dorothy. They adored being with her. She had long blond hair and eyes as blue as the ocean that they viewed from their vista on the bluff. One day Dorothy fell ill with Diphtheria and was dead in 3 days. The family was heartbroken. “As children, we knew that dogs and cats died, but not people! During the course of coming to grips with our loss, our brother, Bubba, disappeared for the better part of the day. When he returned home, he was silent about where he had been.”

“In the ensuing weeks it became clear to us kids as to what he had been up to. Bubba had searched the trail and found Dorothy’s footprints in the sand, left on their last exploration of the bluff together. He had spent the rest of the day erecting a palmetto roofed shelter, over her footprints to protect them from the weather. In time, the rest of our tribe of brothers helped to enlarge and fortify this shelter. We visited it daily through the summer, keeping the memory of Dorothy alive. At summer’s end a squall blew in from the Atlantic, and erased any evidence of the shelter and the footprints.”

“A funny thing happened; the storm did not erase the memory of Dorothy. It only made her memory stronger. And 70 years later Grandpa remembers often how she ran away from them down the sandy slopes, shrieking with laughter.”

Although we’ve all lost loved ones their memory lives on. We miss you, William Barnwell, and the stories you told.   

Musical Reflection - Footprints in the Sand - Lucy Thomas

Dear Lord, Please walk with me as I traverse this life, Let me follow in your footsteps. When I am weary and filled with travail, lift me up and carry me on, leaving but one set of Footprints. For I pray that I am one with you. Amen.        
DeathChildren
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#death #loss #grief #memory

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